Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

According to Wikipedia, LOL is an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud.   It is a common element of Internet slang.   It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communications. According to Reader’s Digest, Laughter is the Best Medicine. According to Genesis 17, Abraham laughed and according to Genesis 18, Sarah laughed .   The problem was that their laughter was heard by one very important person.   And it turned out that their laughter wasn’t even close to being the best medicine!   Why?   They  laughed at God. It’s easy to be harsh on them but stop and think about it.   Sarah had been barren all her child bearing years.   Now she was being told that she would conceive and have a son.   Furthermore, as the passage notes, she was already old and well advanced in years and was past the age of child bearing.   To add further insult to injury, the fa...

YOLO, Y ou O nly L ive O nce, was trendy for a while and is still sort of catchy.   But it often takes on the characteristics of an “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die” type of thing.   Even worse, it has been modeled by some who are very visible in the media! With the right perspective, YOLO can actually be a good thing.   It can be a framework for life in light of what is mentioned in Colossians 1:10: That we might live a life worthy of the Lord; That we might please the Lord in every way; That we might bear fruit in every good work; That we might grow in the knowledge of God. However, if we fail to gain the right perspective on YOLO and buy into that “eat, drink and be merry” variety, we need to realize that God is not mocked, we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7). But perhaps the even greater warning is this:   YOLO needs to be seen in light of YODO, Y ou O nly D ie O nce.   God tells us what follows YODO, i...

To increase sales, somewhere along the line the marketing folks put together a catchy    “ BOGO ”. It’s not really a word, it’s the first letters of a phrase:   B uy O ne, G et O ne… Some sales, for example, might feature a B uy O ne, G et O ne free.   Others might be a B uy O ne, G et O ne half price. God offers the best BOGO ever!   What? “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!   Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isa 55:1) God actually turns BOGO on its head!   He says that we can buy without money and without cost.   What could be better than that?   Read on: “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?   Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.   Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.   I will make an everlasti...

I once heard a consultant say something to the extent that no plan can survive a collision with reality.   It was almost an odd thing to say since consultants often spend a lot of time helping their clients develop plans.   So why plan, then, if the plans can’t survive! But it actually made sense, once an explanation was given.   The consultant indicated that as the organization’s plans are implemented, they face reality and reality includes changing needs.   Changing needs require a willingness to adjust direction and a flexibility to adapt.   There must also even be a willingness to abandon a plan if it isn’t working.   It almost sounded Biblical!   Allow me to explain… Solomon once wrote that “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Prov. 16:9). A Psalmist wrote:   “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him.   For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and...

In the vast wasteland of TV, which frequently encompasses profanity, innuendos and a lack of morality, I found a show that got it right! While many TV shows never really deal with the deeper issues of life, this one did.   In one particular episode, one of the main characters was endeavoring to help another character deal with the regrets of having missed an opportunity.   The conversation between the characters took a serious turn when the one asked the other:   “Is what you did so unforgivable?” The conversation then got right down to the heart of the matter when the character further said:   “It is guilt which crushes us”, followed by “It is shame which holds us in the dark.” Wow!   On TV, no less! David, the Psalmist, used similar words in probing the subject of guilt.   He wrote that his guilt had overwhelmed him like a burden too heavy to bear (Ps 38:4). Paul, the Apostle, in touching on the subject of shame, wrote that hope does n...

Where? Maybe it’s the dentist’s chair or the Emergency Room or the Principal’s office.   You may not want to be there! Or maybe it’s the places we tend to avoid, the places where illicit or illegal activities take place. You probably just don’t want to be there! There are two places you actually really don’t want to be.   One is hiding from and the other is away from. Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden.   Then they sinned.   They became afraid and ashamed and hid from God (Gen 3:8).   Hiding from God is almost always a result of sin and the accompanying feelings of fear or guilt or shame.   You really don’t want to be there! Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve’s sons.   Cain was jealous of Abel and killed him.     After Cain killed his brother, the Lord detailed Cain’s punishment.   Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord (Gen 4:16).   Going away from the presence of God is almost always a result ...

We have natural gas for our furnace, clothes dryer and hot water tank. Recently, we noticed the smell of gas outside the house near the gas meter.   We called the utility company and they came and determined there was a slight leak near the meter. In the process of fixing the leak, they turned off the gas to our hot water tank.   Then, after the leak was fixed, they turned the gas back on to the tank.   But the technician determined that the tank was not properly vented and shut the gas off to it.   The gas could not be turned back on to the tank, he said, until we put in proper ventilation. While we were trying to figure out the best option, we decided that cold water is no fun, even in the summer.   It was somewhat frustrating to know that our hot water tank was just sitting there, full of water but lacking a source of power to heat the water.   To add insult to injury, the technician had hung a sign that said “Danger” and it gave very explicit ...